00:00The core things that we were fighting for and will continue to fight for in our trade negotiations with the
00:05United States is real relief on these unjustified tariffs that are hitting our forest product sector right across the country,
00:13certainly here as well.
00:16And we were not satisfied with what was offered or the durability of what was offered.
00:22Thunder Bay, of course, has the biggest inland port on the Great Lakes. How do you see your government expanding
00:31the use of that port to build Thunder Bay as an economic hub for Canada?
00:37Well, thank you. That's it. And for both elements of your question, both legs of your questions, because our core
00:46strategy of the government, and this will is already unfolding, as you see, with a number of announcements, but will
00:53accelerate over the coming years, is around strategic transportation, strategic transportation corridors for passengers.
01:02Today's announcement for goods, series of announcements around ports and rail, intermodal and other elements.
01:11And in fact, we're working on a series of measures that we've seen.
01:16I mentioned Contreco, which is Port of Montreal, the Pacific Gateway, Port of Churchill, Port here, Port of St. John's,
01:25Quebec City.
01:26We've taken measures that help with efficiencies there.
01:29It's all linked together, and just expect a consistent element of that.
01:35If I can make one final point, which, as you would appreciate, is that the port here and the scale
01:42of markets to which goods that come into this port can be exported depend on those downstream investments that we're
01:49making as well.
01:50So we're getting the downstream ones right, we're getting the expansion that makes available, including the icebreakers that I referenced,
01:58the six new icebreakers that we announced for Davies Shipyard, which will help with commercial traffic in the St. Lawrence.
02:04And then as we move up, we'll move on that.
02:07And the final point is, you can expect, or Canadians can expect, that there will be legislation in the next
02:13parliament that will reinforce exactly what we're talking about.
02:17Question, Kistia?
02:18Next question.
02:19And it's Andy Krasowski with the Prodigal Journal newspaper.
02:22Thank you, sir.
02:23Okay, thank you.
02:23Hi, Lee Dunnick with Thunderbase Source and TV Newswatch.
02:27Prime Minister, you recently implemented retaliatory tariffs against the U.S., but northwestern Ontario's forestry sector is already reeling from
02:37ongoing lumber disputes.
02:38It's what specific financial aid or help, economic support can your government deploy to ensure mills in this region don't
02:45lay off workers?
02:46Yeah, thanks for the question.
02:48I think one of the – and let me say this, and I'm going to answer – I'm going to
02:52broaden the question a bit and then come back to the core of it.
02:55One of the core things that we were fighting for and will continue to fight for in our trade negotiations
03:01with the United States is real relief on these unjustified tariffs that are hitting our forest product sector right across
03:08the country, certainly here as well.
03:13And we were not satisfied with what was offered or the durability of what was offered, a key point.
03:19One of the things is we don't want to make gains in the short term that then are taken away
03:22a few months later or a year later from that.
03:25That's not fair to our workers, our companies, our communities.
03:28So that's part of the reason why the deal wasn't good enough was in the forest product sector specifically.
03:35That being the case, it means that we need to reinforce the supports that we have in place for the
03:41forest product sector to the companies themselves as well as to the workers.
03:47Minister Hajju announced a series of those last week, a few days ago.
03:53The forestry strategy that's resulting from the forestry task force is going to lead to some major announcements in the
03:59coming weeks.
04:00So I will defer specifically to that.
04:02But the general point is to bridge companies and workers beyond this trade dispute and at the same time allow
04:13them to give them the resources to pivot to become more competitive.
04:18So there's a lot in place.
04:19There's more to come.
04:21Follow-up.
04:22Follow-up question.
04:23Switching to highways, our highways have proven to be getting deadlier and deadlier every year.
04:29What appetite is there in the federal government or with the federal government to work with the province to expand
04:37twinning or expansion of the highways here to make them safer and keep our people from getting killed?
04:45Yes.
04:46Well, first, let me, you know, each of these accidents are tragedies, tragedies for the families and friends and the
04:57communities.
04:58And there are structural issues that are there.
05:01This has been going on far too long, as your question says.
05:07And yes, you're right, we have to work with the province in order to do that.
05:11This needs to be a priority of the province as well as the federal government.
05:14I know it's a priority for your representatives in the federal government because they bring it up with me.
05:20I will be raising this with the premier.
05:23We have a lot to work on together.
05:25There's a lot we can get on together.
05:26But it needs to be a priority for the province of Ontario.
05:30It will be a priority for the federal government.
05:32And we'll work to rectify it.
05:34Next question.
05:37Hi there.
05:38My name is Sam Goldstein.
05:39I'm with Acadia Broadcasting.
05:41Three years ago, my friends of the CBC reported that in the prior decade,
05:46the on-time reliability of VIA passenger rail had dropped by more than 20 points.
05:51At the time, VIA attributed that mostly to the fact that they own so little of the track
05:57that so much of the track is owned by just two companies.
06:01In the same vein, we have just three companies that control most of our telecom infrastructure,
06:07just five that sell most of the groceries to most Canadians.
06:10What's your government doing to address competition in essential markets?
06:16And is there any appetite for serious antitrust?
06:21In a word, yes.
06:24Although we take an approach where we're working on making structural changes.
06:29So let me answer that by – let me go to the food sector and food security in this country.
06:35One of the issues is, as you say, the relative concentration of the large grocery stores.
06:41But it's also an issue that the concentration – when you move up the chain, so the wholesalers,
06:48who can you buy from?
06:49You and I set up a grocery store.
06:51Where are our options to buy those groceries?
06:54The concentration there means that our ability to offer cheaper prices is very limited.
07:01In fact, it's hindered.
07:02And then the buying power all the way up to back to the farm gate.
07:07So in our food security strategy, what we're doing is we're changing the wholesale sector.
07:13We're increasing existing independent wholesalers so that independent grocers have access to them.
07:20We're building new ones.
07:22We're building new elements.
07:23We're supporting private investment for new elements in controlled growing settings.
07:30So think greenhouses and other aspects like that so that there's more competition all the way through the food chain.
07:39Same issues, I think, in telecom.
07:42I'll give you an example.
07:43What this government did last summer, it sounds technical, and I'm going to lose the entire audience here, but this
07:48is important,
07:49is we allowed companies to use each other's broadband lines across the country.
07:57Okay.
07:59I'm grossly simplifying, but that's effectively what was the case.
08:02The regulator made this suggestion.
08:04And that increases competition here in Ontario.
08:08It increases competition in Quebec and also in Western Canada because more companies can come in.
08:13That has helped to contribute to the fall in broadband costs, still one of the biggest expenses that people have.
08:21So we're going structurally into how our industries are organized in order to do so.
08:29And, of course, with VIA, it's working with the existing railways to ensure that the availability of the tracks as
08:36much as possible.
08:38It's ongoing work.
08:40Some progress has been made.
08:41But I think we all know that more needs to be done.
08:44Part of that will be major rail investment.
08:48And if I can make one final point, part of the value, and I know it doesn't come all the
08:53way to here, but I'm speaking to all Canadians,
08:56part of the value of Alto is it creates a significant additional capacity.
09:02And the integration of the regional, if I will, the regional routes with that high-speed rail
09:08will increase competition in all forms of transport and improve reliability and service.
09:14So we're really going to the heart of it.
09:16If I could, it's too late to make this a short answer.
09:20But what we're not doing is theater.
09:24We're not hauling people in and wagging our fingers at them and say, you know,
09:29what we're doing is making the investments so that there is more competition.
09:35Canadians have more choice.
09:37All up.
09:48We'll see you next time.
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